In a series of 10 normal ovarian tissues and 18 pairs of primary and metastatic epithelial ovarian cancer tissues analyzed by IHC, MARCKS protein was highly expressed in ovarian tumor stroma gradually as cancer progressed, and was required for the differentiation and tumor-promoting function of cancer-associated fibroblasts, including proliferation, chemotherapeutical resistance and migration in vitro. Here, MARCKS is linked to ovarian neoplasm.